Gnocchi

1kg Carisma potatoes
1 egg yolk
180g plain flour
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius (fan-forced).

Place potatoes on a baking tray and pierce them with a fork to prevent steam build up during baking.

Bake for 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Set aside to cool for 10 minutes in the strainer.

Hold each potato with a clean tea towel and peel and discard the skins.

Cut potatoes into quarters and put in a large mixing bowl.

Leave for 10 minutes to cool further.

Mash the potatoes with a masher.

Place the potatoes in a fine sieve and push the potatoes through the sieve into another mixing bowl, using the back of a spoon.

Add the egg, salt and flour to the bowl and stir using the handle of a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes firm and slightly sticky. If the mixture is too sticky, add more flour, a little at a time.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly until just smooth. Don’t overwork the dough.

Divide the dough into six portions.

Roll each portion into a sausage, use a flowered knife to cut a gnocchi sausage into 1cm lengths. With wet hands roll each of the lengths into balls, place one at a time into sieve and then tip sieve contents into saucepan. Repeat with remaining gnocchi sausages.

use a floured knife to cut the sausage into 2-3 cm lengths. We prefer smaller gnocchi, ie the 2cm lenghts.

With wet hands, roll each piece into a ball and return to the lined tray.

Meanwhile, boil a saucepan of water and pick up 5 pieces of gnocchi and toss into the boiling salted water and repeat with another 5 pieces.

The gnocchi are cooked when they rise to the top of the water.

Remove the gnocchi from the saucepan using a slotted spoon, place in baking dish with a lid to keep them warm while the remaining gnocchi is rolled, cut, rolled and cooked.

This works with gluten free flour. Make sure you use Caputo brand for pizza, and sweets. Increase salt, if using gluten free flour. Don’t overcook gluten free gnocchi.

Try this with 1/4 cup grated parmesan added to the potato along with the flour, salt and egg.

Rather than discarding the skins, try rubbing garlic on the inside of the potato skin, buttering and adding a pinch of salt as a snack!

Serve with a good tomato sauce, parmesan and a drizzle of balsamic and olive oil. You can also add some pesto and or some caramelised onion on the side. This combination of elements is perfect with spaghetti if you don’t have time to make gnocchi.

We are finding that the gnocchi can benefit from being a titch firmer, this is achieved by adding a tiny amount more flour.